Cigarettes and Constellations
by whitherthen
Summary: Written during spring hiatus in 2003. I had very different ideas about Faith's return to Sunnydale and how the Scoobies and the potential slayers would battle The First.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was written during the month-long wait between Orpheus and Dirty Girls. I abandoned it after the actual storyline Jossed the hell out of my plot, and I suck at AU in the Whedonverse. I guess many years of separation makes it easier. I haven't made any changes to the content despite my gut instinct to rip the entire thing apart. Any mistakes are mine, because I have no clue how to find a good BtVS beta nowadays.**

**Also, this is dedicated to Nos - thx for updating your WIP after nine years on the shelf and inspiring me to revisit my own work!**

Faith hadn't wanted to admit it to anyone. This was California, after all. Angel knew, obviously, hyped-up vamp senses. Wes had bought them. He'd even had a couple. LA was okay. Sunnydale was different. But after an hour of updates and information regarding The First, it became a necessity. She needed a cigarette.

Willow stayed in the car, quietly humming to a song on the radio. Faith was leaning against the passenger door, looking off into the darkness of nothing. They had stopped in the middle of the desert, one of those stretches you pass through and pray that you don't run out of gas or get a flat. There were stars in the sky, something she hadn't gotten the opportunity to see in years. Not a spare moment in these past few days to look up. Once upon a time she'd been obsessed, learning the names of every constellation. An entire night had been spent studying her little map and putting the glow-in-the-dark stickers up on her ceiling in the exact order. Mom was too drunk to notice the money that had been taken from her purse to fund the purchase. But weeks later she'd staggered in, saw the little pinpoints of light, and ordered her daughter to remove them before the landlord pitched a bitch. "Ordered," of course, being a fairly loose interpretation of how Faith had been dragged out of bed and tossed around the room.

Even now she couldn't look up for too long. For the most part she just appreciated that there was enough light to make out miles of flatland surrounded by mountains. Years ago, when she'd first come to California, she hadn't paid a damn bit of attention to the scenery. Too much on her mind, although it most likely wouldn't have appealed. But since this would be her last chance to see anything other than concrete and barbed wire, she had to take a moment. Faith was resigned to the fact that once she went back to prison, she'd never leave. So she deliberately savored the smell of the fresh air, the infinite emptiness of this place, the way the breeze lifted the hair off the back of her neck. Hell, even this cigarette was damn near perfect. Wes had really spoiled her with these cloves. She loved the bit of sweetness on the filter and the little crackles of spark as she inhaled. In fact, it was worth it to have another.

As Faith pulled a second from the pack and lit it off the butt of the first, she felt a slight shift in the car. The radio snapped off and the driver's door opened, and suddenly Willow was beside her, leaning against the car.

"So I think I get it. With the smoking." The redhead remarked.

"Yeah?"

"Well, not the emphysema and cancer and dying part of it. But it seems relaxing, to concentrate on something so simple. Just breathing and thinking."

"There is that."

"Plus those smell good, like spices."

"They're clove cigarettes."

"Hmm. You'll have to talk Spike into smoking those, 'cause he's stinking up the whole house with his." Silence for a moment, and then, "Orion."

"Huh?" The slayer asked, glancing over at the shadowed outline of the girl beside her.

Willow pointed at a portion of the sky directly ahead. "That one's Orion. Or at least the belt part of him."

Faith started for a moment, eerily certain that the witch had snuck into her mind. She squinted against the darkness, trying to make out an expression on the girl's face, but all she saw was night.

Willow was still going on, pointing out constellations. She faltered after a minute, her hand dropping. "I guess I just… haven't looked in a while. I don't really get out anymore. And when I do it's not so much about looking at stars. It's more with fighting the evil. It would be nice to get out sometimes, in a non-fighty way, ya know? You probably… don't know, what with the prison and all. Yeah, I think the cold is turning my brain off, so I'm just gonna get back in the car now, 'kay?" She hurried around to the driver's side and got in, muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

The slayer couldn't resist a chuckle. She took one last drag, then flicked the butt out into the night. It glowed bright red as it arced and fell. A glance upward and she forgave the probable mind-invasion, and got back into the car. Willow shifted it into drive, and they were off. The hum of tires gliding on pavement did little to fill the silence. Faith wished for the radio again, even that girl-power rock the witch seemed to be so fond of. It was way too difficult to try and think of something to say. Willow, however, did not seem to have that problem.

"I'm trying to think of what else to tell you, to prepare you for what things are like in Sunnydale right now."

"Apocalyptic?"

"Well, besides that. It's just really hard. There's like a million people living in the house. You have to schedule time to use the bathroom, and fight for food, plus sometimes you're the only person in the room speaking English. Then there's Buffy's pep talks, which are less about pep and more about everyone dying."

"Sounds like fun."

"Actually, not so much. So, are you nervous?"

"Why would I be nervous? I'm sure everyone's just dying to see me."

"Well, I tried to kill Buffy and Xander last year, but we're fine now. And before that Buffy went crazy and tied us all up in the basement, and she was going to kill us."

"Huh."

"I just mean, no hard feelings. It's only _attempted_ murder, that's nothing."

Faith caught Willow's smile under the glow of the dash lights, and laughed without meaning to. The knot in her stomach was starting to unwind, and she settled back into her seat. She'd forgotten about this part of the Scooby gang – humor with Armageddon on their asses.

"How long until we get there?"

"A few more hours."

"Mind if catch a little shut-eye? It's been a rough couple of days."

"Not at all. I'll wake you up when we get into town."

"Thanks." The slayer reclined her seat a bit, her head lolling to the side. For once in her life, she was asleep within moments.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is where we start traveling to the AU place, and we won't come back.**

* * *

><p>Faith woke abruptly, just in time to see the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign go by. The night had lost its hold; the sun would be up soon.<p>

"You talk in your sleep." Willow stated.

The slayer brought her seat back to the upright position, straightened her clothes, and wiped at her mouth to check for drool. "Anything interesting?"

"It was mostly mumbling. But I might've heard the name 'Gunn' once or twice." Willow smiled and glanced over at Faith, who already had her pack of cigarettes in hand.

"Hey, that could mean anything."

"Uh-huh. I think you have time to smoke, so long as you put the window down."

"Thanks." With lightening speed the brunette lit up and took her first drag. The knot that had left her stomach last night had returned in the form of a boulder. It continued to grow as the houses rolling past became increasingly familiar. "Stop the car." She muttered.

"What?" The redhead asked, a touch of fear underlining the word.

"Just… stop the car."

Willow obliged, veering to the right, skimming the passenger side tires along the curb. The slayer opened her door and stumbled out. One hand holding the car for support, the other pulling back her hair, Faith bent over and watched her dropped cigarette smoldering in the grass. The thick smell of it hit, acting as a catalyst. Suddenly her stomach lurched and emptied itself right next to some unsuspecting family's mailbox. Her eyes filled with tears as she gagged, thankful, at least, that she hadn't partaken of Fred's homemade taco fiesta last night.

A sigh of relief escaped her as the tightness in her midsection dissipated, and the knot (boulder) virtually disappeared. She straightened up to see the witch standing beside her, looking concerned, and holding a few napkins out.

"Sorry about that," the slayer mumbled, gratefully taking the napkins and wiping her mouth.

Willow shrugged her shoulders. "Lorne said there might be some after effects from-"

"It's nerves. My first week as a slayer, I threw up every night."

"Really? Huh. Do you need a minute?"

"Nah, I feel better now."

Willow nodded in response, flashing a little smile before getting back in the car. Faith did the same, then sealed the soiled napkins inside the little plastic garbage bag located in the console. She reached into her jacket pocket and fished out a piece of Trident, a purchase Wes had made for her along with the cigarettes. A little smile played on her lips as she watched the houses go by again, and she remembered how odd it had been to ride in the car with her former Watcher. The oddness was due to the fact that he smoked with his right hand, reaching across his body every time he needed to ash. Very distracting.

The thought had barely come and gone, and they were pulling into the driveway behind Joyce's SUV. The last time Faith had been here…

"Ready?" Willow interrupted. They got out of the car and started up the walk. Willow had gone so far as to unlock the front door when a voice called out from behind them.

"Hey, guys." Both girls turned to see Buffy walking toward them, through the grass. She stopped at the bottom of the porch steps. "Will, you must be tired. Why don't you go ahead and crash out for a few hours?" The witch took the hint and nodded, disappearing into the house and closing the door behind her.

Buffy gestured for Faith to follow, and led her out to the end of the driveway. "Will brought you up to speed on the First?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know how serious things are here."

"I've got an idea."

"And you also know that if I wasn't in such desperate need of help, there'd be no way in hell I'd let you come back to Sunnydale, much less sleep under my roof."

The brunette's mouth went dry at the words. "Buffy, I-"

"Don't bother apologizing. Look, two slayers are definitely better than one. But don't expect me to act like everything's okay. I need a fighter, not a friend. If you can't deal with that, you should cut your losses and head back to lock-up."

"I can deal. I'm just here to kick some evil ass." Faith lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and tried to remember the almost-good feeling she'd had right before leaving LA last night. It wouldn't come.

"Rule number one: if you make if out of this alive, which you probably won't, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. You go straight back to prison."

"It's looking more appealing by the minute."

"Rule number two: if I think for one second that you are a danger to anyone in this house, I won't hesitate to take you out."

"Willow warned me about your pep talks, but damn."

"What did you expect, Faith? I trusted you, and you betrayed me. You wreaked havoc on my life, then came back to do some more damage. You stole my body, slept with my boyfriend, held my mom hostage, then cozied up to Angel and convinced him to take pity on your tortured soul. And while you were off making license plates, I died. Did you know that? I died, and because my friends brought me back, the line of slayers was weakened. So the First decided to take advantage of it and try and kill us all. Do you see where I'm going with this? If you had been here, maybe Willow wouldn't have had to bring me back. Hell, maybe I wouldn't have died in the first place."

Faith turned, momentarily distracted from the tirade as all the lights in the house started to switch on. The faint sound of panicked voices reached her ears, and she turned back to Buffy. The blonde was smiling wickedly. "Guess the jig is up."

"Faith!" Willow was calling her name from inside the house. It sounded far away.

"Just keep in mind that even if she doesn't say it, you know damn well she's thinking it." Buffy continued, smile still wrapped around her lips. "I was a little worried about you coming to town, but this is gonna to be easier than I thought. Not to mention, kinda fun. See ya."

And suddenly Buffy was gone. No puff of smoke, no flash of light. Faith blinked slowly, stupidly, then squinted. Nothing.


End file.
